Around’s the A’sosphere: Beane Counting

Blue Jays blogger Daniel Julien has produced Beane Count, an analysis of Billy Beane’s first five years of trades. In his Baseball Views From the North blog, he concludes there was a “BIG advantage in VORP in Oakland’s favour of almost 250 runs” for only $8 million in added payroll — better than BB’s disciple J.P. Ricciardi has done in Toronto. A favourable VORP is worth its weight in Molson’s, eh?

Rickey comes out smelling like a rose.

The all-time fave Athletic, Rickey Henderson, often gets spotted in Oaktown doing regular-guy stuff. There’s a certain non-visual sensation you get when you meet him in the street, as this Athletics Nation diary recounts.

Professor Oakland, who has a new A’s blog with a mad-scientist schtick, has an interview with our own Susan Slusser. She offers a clear description of Eric Chavez’s injury problem and doesn’t expect the A’s will spend much in the pricey free agent market for a Frank Thomas replacement. I dunno — some years, like 1998 and 2005, it’s easy to be patient during a rebuilding season, but after the excitement of 2006, it’s hard to accept a “go young” approach for ’07.